A Philadelphia woman is suing a casino, alleging she was discriminated against and eventually terminated by her former employer because of her age.
Deborah Baldwin filed a lawsuit Aug. 11 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania against Harrah's Philadelphia Casino of Chester and Caesars Entertainment Corporation of Las Vegas, alleging violations of the Age Discrimination in Employment Act and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Act.
According to the complaint, Baldwin, 58, worked for the defendants as cage supervisor from July 2008 to August 2014. The suit states despite Baldwin having an exceptional job performance throughout her employment with the casino, she was suspended and then terminated because she violated a comp shop policy when she gave money to the director of food and beverage without e-mail approval.
The lawsuit states Baldwin was terminated because of her age as she was treated differently than younger supervisors, such as by being the only employee forced to work longer than the normal eight-hour shift.
The plaintiff alleges younger employees, under the age of 40, faced little to no disciplinary action when they violated company policies. The suit says although Baldwin was terminated for violating a policy, the other person involved, who was younger than 40, was allowed to resign.
Baldwin seeks back and front pay, lost benefits, compensatory damages, punitive damages, non-pecuniary damages, attorney fees and costs, plus other relief deemed appropriate by the court. She is represented by attorneys Michael Bowman and Anthony Giletto of Bowman & Partners in Philadelphia.
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania case number 2:15-cv-04502-MMB.